Following his decision win over Jordan Mein at Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine” event in Las Vegas, Woodley took it a step further, demanding a title shot in his next event.

“My last three opponents have all been tough,” Woodley said at the evening’s post-event press conference. “People want to see you go out there and jump around and spin around like Jon Jones, but if you keep being told, ‘This fight might be for the title. You might fight Paul Daley or Andre Galvao or Tarec Saffiedine.’ All these guys are legitimate.

“You think about this kid Jordan Mein, who is definitely taller than six-foot, I’ll tell you that right now – these people are coming to win, and they’re coming to knock you out. For you to be able to endure and implement your gameplan and go out there and try to defeat them, I think there’s a lot of risk.”

A wrestling specialist, Woodley utilized his grappling skills throughout the affair and remained in top position for almost all of the 15-minute affair. To his credit, Mein tried to stay busy in the fight and was even awarded two of the three rounds by judge Glenn Trowbridge. The Las Vegas crowd wasn’t always thrilled with the effort, but Woodley didn’t consider his performance unacceptable.

“I thought I landed a pretty nice right to send him back and kicked him,” Woodley said. “(When) you’re coming forward, especially with that kind of range, you don’t want to engage in crazy combinations. When he got within my range, I thought I did what I needed to do to take him down, ground and pound him, punch him in the side, knee him in the body.

“I’ve got the CompuStrike in my pocket if you want to check it out. I don’t think I was reluctant to strike with him.”

With eight-straight wins under the Strikeforce banner, it would seem silly not to include Woodley in a fight to claim the welterweight belt vacated in 2011 by current UFC contender Nick Diaz. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker refused to promise a title shot for Woodley, but it sounds as if the 29-year-old could meet the winner of the March 3 fight between Paul Daley and Kazuo Misaki with the belt on the line.

“We’re going to take a look at the fight with Misaki and Paul Daley, and then we can have a conversation about that,” Coker said.

For his part, Woodley doesn’t seem to think much conversation is warranted.

“I need that belt,” Woodley said. “The next time I walk into the cage, the next time I fight, I want a belt on the table for it. That’s hopefully what these guys want to present.”
Victorious Lawler was never concerned

Despite the 108-second length of the fight, it wasn’t the only significant knee of the contest.

In the early going, Amagov delivered a clearly illegal knee to a kneeling Lawler, forcing a brief stoppage in action, as well as a point deduction from match referee Steve Mazzagatti.

While Lawler winced quite a bit before returning to action, he said the illegal blow never threatened to end the fight.

“(I was) not hurt too bad,” Lawler said. “I just wanted to make sure everything was perfectly fine before I got back. As soon as he called the doctor in, I was like, ‘I’m fine.’ I just wanted to make sure I was alright and could fight to the best of my ability.”

Some MMA pundits had suggested Lawler might use a more grappling-heavy attack against the Russian striker, but the fight didn’t play out in that manner. While Lawler had called Amagov “dangerous” and “explosive” in the pre-fight build-up, post-fight he said he wasn’t overly concerned with his opponent’s abilities.

“I wasn’t too worried about going anywhere with that guy,” Lawler said. “I thought he was going to dip out to his right and throw his right hand, so I was actually trying to kick him in his face, but it ended up being a knee.”

An 11-year veteran, Lawler remains a fan-favorite and could likely find himself in Strikeforce’s title picture with just a handful of wins. However, in typical Lawler fashion, the 29-year-old seemed unconcerned with where he’ll next compete.

“A couple days off would be nice, for sure,” Lawler said. “My manager will talk to Strikeforce, and we’ll get a gameplan together.

“I won one fight. Let’s move on. I need to get better, and we’ll see what happens in a couple weeks when Strikeforce talks to my manager.”

Saffiedine, Burrell reflect on head-scratching decisions

While Saturday’s event will likely be remembered for Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold’s destruction of longtime veteran Keith Jardine, the night also featured a couple of head-scratching split decisions along the way.

Welterweight contender Tarec Saffiedine (12-3 MMA, 4-1 SF) was involved in one such contest, fighting through an early barrage from Tyler Stinson to claim the final two rounds in what looked like a clear-cut 29-28 win. Instead, judge Patricia Morse-Jarman was the only official to turn in such a card.

Adelaide Byrd actually gave Saffiedine all three rounds, while Lester Griffin awarded the fight to Stinson, 29-28.

Saffiedine, who was awarded the split decision, said he didn’t understand the scoring, but he was confident as the scores were read that his hand was going to be raised.

“I didn’t really agree on the 30-27,” Saffiedine said. “I think I lost the first round, but I definitely won the last two rounds, so I knew I was going to take the decision.”

“Sponge” came to the evening’s post-event press conference with his left arm in a sling. He said the damage came from Stinson’s first-round armbar attempt.

“I hyper-extended elbow in the first round,” Saffiedine said. “I tried to escape, but it was pretty tight.”

Meanwhile, fellow welterweight Nah-Shon Burrell (8-1 MMA, 3-0 SF) was the recipient of what seemed a bit of a gift decision, earning a split over James Terry despite appearing to have dropped the opening two rounds. Burrell, who said he didn’t have complete use of his left hand due to an injury suffered in training, said he was unsure of what a proper score would have been.

“I really don’t know,” Burrell said. “When you leave it up to the judges, you never know. I was hoping for the best.”

Terry clearly took the opening frame and Burrell certainly won the third. The second round was the closest of the three, but most cageside observers scored it for Terry. Fortunately for Burrell, judges Marcos Rosales and Glenn Trowbridge didn’t see it that way.

When asked to point to exactly what earned him the frame on those judges’ cards, Burrell admitted he wasn’t quite sure.

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